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DOCUMENT RESUIE
05935 - (B1386401]
Need To Concentrate Intensive Timber Management on Hig'h
Productive Lands. CED-78-105; B-125053. May 11, 1978. 48 pp. + 2
appea.dices (11 pp.).
Report to the Congress; by Elmer B. Staats, Comptroller General.
Issue Area: Land Use Plannirg and control: Managemenc of Federal
Lands and Related Resources (2306); Materials: Renewing
Resources 11810).
Contact: Community and Economic Development Div.
Budget Function: Natural Resources, Environment, and Energy:
Conservation and Land Management (302).
Organization Concerned: Department of Agriculture; Forest
Service.
Ccngressional Relevance: House Committee on Agriculture; Senate
Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition, an] Forestry; Congress.
Authority: Forest and Rangeland Renewable Resources 2lanning Act
of 1974 (16 U.S.C. 1600). National Forest Management Act of
1976 (16 U.S.C. 1600). 86 Stat. 678.
A 1974 report noted that the Forest Service had a
reforestation tacklog, inciuding 13.4 million acres needing
timber stand improvements (TSIs). The reort found that the
Service's land inventory data were inadequate because it did not
show specifically the location end condition of the lands
needing reforestation and TSI. Fund allocation procedures had
not insured tha*' appropriated funds were used where
reforestation and TSI would result in the best pcssible timber
growth and other multiple-uLe benefits such aa improved
recreation, watershed, and wildlife areas.
Findings/conclusions: Since the report was issued in 1974,
annual appropriations for reforestation and timber stand
improvement work have increased from about $33 million to about
$73 million, the Congress has enacted legislation to provide for
obtaining the best possible benefits from reforestation and TSI
investments, and new timber management plans for national
forests have given more attention to reforestation and denuded
lands and intensified management. H, vever, many problems still
exist. The Service has not: obtainea adequate land inventory
data, used economic analys.is techniques to determine project
priorities, stored all .and inventory data in a central
automated system for easy retrieval, or made or set target dates
for using analyses required for investment decisions. EroJects
were still selectqd on the basis of individual forest managers$
assessments of land condition, land topography, and site
accessibility and say not nave been cost effective. The basic
problem may be the Service's management philcscphy for its
prograi. Recommendations: The Secretary of Agriculture should
direct the Forest Service to improve land inventcry data,
determine the benefits expected from intensive management
inwestments, and use improved fund allocation techniques. The](ViewImageLocal?handle=hein.gao/gaobaaxfs0001&div=1&collection=&method=preview&ext=.png&size=3)